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love-and-i-am · 2 years

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The Art Newspaper Dec 1st, 2008

MARILYN MANSON AND HIS DARK MIAMI DEBUT

Interview by Charmaine Picard

American musician, writer, photographer and watercolourist Marilyn Manson is known for his theatrical appearance and provocative stage persona as the lead singer of his eponymous band. Born Brian Hugh Warner in Ohio in 1969, Manson’s career took off in 1996 with the release of his third album, Antichrist Superstar, which formed part of a pseudo-autobiographical music trilogy. His haunting and intimate watercolour portraits of friends, celebrities and crime victims expose the raw underbelly of American life—an ongoing interest of the artist—as well as his investigations in Nietzschean philosophy. Manson’s paintings have previously been exhibited in Los Angeles in 2002 and 2006, in Paris and Berlin in 2004, and in Cologne in 2007. His show, “Trismegistus”, opened last night and is presented by Cologne-based Galerie Brigitte Schenk with 101 Exhibit in Miami’s Design District.

The Art Newspaper: I understand that you sleep by day. When do you paint?

Marilyn Manson: It’s easiest for me to paint late at night when I’m at my most creative, around 3am. I’ve been making a new album and the band works from 8pm until about 4am, so I often come home and paint in silence. It’s a real escape for me because it’s the thing I can do when no one’s around.

TAN: I’ve read that you started drawing as a child, using it as an escape.

MM: I liked drawing as a kid and I wanted to become a cartoonist for something like Mad magazine.

TAN: Are there any special objects that you keep around for inspiration in your painting studio?

MM: I have things taped and written on the walls, it’s almost like a big notebook. It’s a bit haunted-house-mixed-with-Las Vegas, there’s no sense of time and there are no clocks. I have a lot of art and anatomy books, magazines, about 250 children’s books and lots of Polaroids. I kneel down on the floor when I work, so I can control and balance the paint, and the ceiling fan above me has a video camera attached so I can document my painting.

TAN: Would you describe your works as psychological portraits of your subjects?

MM: I don’t paint photorealistic works; I think that’s what cameras are for. I’m painting a girl that I met recently who was concerned about how she looked, and I explained that I was trying to capture her personality.

TAN: Are your paintings more personal than your very public stage persona?

MM: I have a terrible time losing my paintings to other people. I don’t consider painting a hobby at all. At one point I was willing to completely trade one for the other while I was going through a dark period in my life, but somehow the combination of singing and painting seemed to work together.

TAN: Can you tell me about your painting Trismegistus, the centrepiece of the show?

MM: I found a portable embalming table from the 19th century, and some foolish part of me thought it would make a goth girl really excited. But I left it sitting against the wall in my studio, and one night I started painting around midnight with only the moonlight coming through the shades. I finished the work by about 1pm the next day. It’s a very fragile piece and I’d like to see it end up in a museum.

TAN: Is it true that the first paintings that you sold in 1999 were five-minute concept pieces that were bought by drug dealers?

MM: They were traded for drugs. I wonder where those are now.

TAN: How would you describe your watercolours? Is it accurate to characterise some of your major themes as death, celebrity, pop culture and hermeticism?

MM: I always choose interesting people, like the Black Dahlia [Elizabeth Short, who was the victim in a gruesome unsolved Los Angeles murder in 1947] and [murdered child beauty pageant contestant] Jon Benét Ramsey, who are fascinating because of their mystery. I also have a lot of fetishes that come from pop culture—things like “Tom & Jerry” cartoons where we see a woman in high heels pointing her red fingernail, but that’s all you ever see.

TAN: Where do you get most of your material? Do you work from newspaper and magazine photographs, live models, memories or from sketches?

MM: I’m a closet photographer. My house is filled with big movie lights so I can take photographs whenever I want.

I don’t really like to show my photographs, but if I might brag, I think they’re pretty good. I like to photograph a person before I paint their portrait and lighting is very important. I don’t necessarily work directly from the photograph, but I want to have something in my head when I begin.

TAN: Can you name some artists who have influenced your work?

MM: I love the surrealists. I have a Dalí video where he refuses to do an interview with Orson Welles for his own documentary that I love. I also like what Man Ray did with film and shadows. And Egon Schiele has been a big influence on me. I enjoy looking at Bacon’s notebooks and his studies because it reminds me of how I work.

TAN: What do you think about Matthew Barney? You’re both interested in creating elaborate personas with detailed histories and philosophical underpinnings.

MM: I have an extreme love/hate for Matthew Barney because I’m jealous that he is able to do so much. Someday I’d like to work with him, or beat him up for being so good at what he does. I have every one of his books and bootleg copies of the “Cremaster” series. We both incorporate the same type of manic detail in our work.

TAN: In previous interviews you’ve said that the name Marilyn Manson refers to “the disturbing dualism of American culture”. Can you explain what you mean by this?

MM: In the 1990s, one channel on the television would be investigating the secret behind Marilyn Monroe’s death, while [talk-show host and investigative journalist] Geraldo Rivera was interviewing Charles Manson on another. To me, Monroe and Manson were equally famous for completely different reasons. Besides the obvious contrasts of beauty and ugliness, and female and male, I think that Monroe had a dark side and Manson has strange moments of coherent philosophy. For me, being Marilyn Manson is my art. My brain doesn’t shut off, so it’s not as easy as saying that Marilyn Manson is just a stage persona; it’s me and I don’t think about it any other way.

TAN: You recently developed your own brand of absinthe called Mansinthe. Did you start drinking absinthe because of the romantic associations it has with writers and artists like Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, Charles Baudelaire and Vincent van Gogh?

MM: Yeah, I think so. I like it because it doesn’t make me drunk and it helps me to create.

TAN: You’ve been interested in the creative energy of Weimar Germany for some time now. I realise that there’s a historic specificity to the period, but there are some interesting parallels in terms of cultural excess and the bankruptcy of our financial institutions. Do you think the global recession might lead to increased creativity by artists?

MM: If money becomes an issue, artists will probably resort to the basics. I think it will make people appreciate the things that they’ve created with their own hands that have a personal and spiritual value.

TAN: Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?

MM: I think I’m 100% a spiritual person. If I didn’t care about the world, I wouldn’t put something into it.

#talks #Marilyn Manson #The Art Newspaper #2008

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hotjaneaustenmenpoll · 2 months

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Round Three Round Up!

In Round Three we were seeing double as 6 out of our 8 pairs were put against their alternative selves and we asked why not pit two bad bitches against each other ?

In the only match-up where the newer version won out we lost another one of our tournament's Mr Knightleys as you declared that riding through rain, willing to ride through worse was not enough to win your hearts - instead he must have a proper understanding of muslin! And so Mr Tilney (2007) became our first Quarter-finalist.

Mr Knightley (1996) was not alone in taking his leave of us as your votes decided that Johnny Flynn's Mr Knightley (2020) was too blonde badly done compared to Mr Knightley (2009) and must go!

Mr Elliot (2022) will be likely soon spotted in town with a Mrs Clay on his arm as though he may have proved himself the hottest of the Persuasion (2022) men he was no match for Colonel Brandon (1995). Joining him in bad-boy exile is Willoughby (2008) who could not beat the man best known as Emma Thompson's husband leaving Willoughby (1995) as the last libertine standing.

In another win for Sense and Sensibility (1995) Edward Ferrars (1995) proved that while a Wet Shirt scene written by Andrew Davies might have worked once, Dan Stevens chopping wood in the rain was too blonde not enough to prevail against Hugh Grant and the power of being married to Emma Thompson in any universe, real or imagined.

Captain Wentworth (1995) also sailed through against his 2007 counterpart as the voters told us once again that they hated blonde men if it was made in '95 that man was staying alive for another round and so Captain Wentworth (2007) becomes only a gallant Captain Wentworth, in a small paragraph at one corner of the newspapers.

In one of our tightest run polls that went back and forth several times it was Bingley Vs Bingley but in another win for the '95 contingent - the curly hair clinched it and Mr Bingley (1995) proved the victor.

And of course I must end with the biggest poll of the week, breaching the walls of our little tournament to be voted on by 28,987 tumblr users, the poll that ended in a most well deserved 50/50 split, Mr Darcy Vs Mr Darcy. How could anyone vote for THAT Mr Darcy you yelled at each other - HAND FLEX! WET SHIRT! you cried! But when push came to shove despite 14,484 of you declaring that you loved him most ardently 14,503 of you had decided he was the last man on earth who you could ever be prevailed upon to marry and left that wet cat out in the rain. And so, though we offer him a most cordial curtsey we must say goodbye to a very worthy loser Mr Darcy (2005).

Thank you for all the excellent propaganda sent in - I will be taking a days break before putting up the Quarter-final polls, giving you until Thursday to send in any propaganda you want included on the main poll posts and me time to add it! But for now we must once again say...

Farewell Gentlemen!

#round three #hotjaneaustenmenpoll #roundup #Jane Austen

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todayontumblr · 11 months

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Monday June 12.

For reasons unbeknownst to us...

...Merlin (2008) is trending, as it is wont to do. But who are we to argue? From time to time, our dashboards delight and surprise us with the news that #merlin is once more in the hearts and minds of the fandom, who have propelled it into the forefront of our collective cultural zeitgeist. And this Monday, June 12, to the delight and surprise of everyone else, our favorite homoerotic budding sorcerer/knight-to-be duo find themselves the talk of the town. Even if this talk is largely comprised of: wait, why is merlin (2008) trending? i mean im not unhappy about it... Or, in the more magnificent phrasing of this post in particular, everyone seeing merlin trending and going wait. it's not december. it's not merlin month. like a dad reading the newspaper and squinting at the date on the top of the page when the paper says there's a heatwave in february.

Well, consider us all squinty newspaper dads on this suspiciously warm day in February—who are happy nonetheless to see the sun shining and #merthur once again basking in its rays and glorious warmth.

We will now spend the week manifesting a similar trending renaissance for Life on Mars (2006-2007) x

#today on tumblr #merlin #merlin bbc #bbc merlin #arthur pendragon #merthur #merlin x arthur #bbc merlin fanart #bbc one #merlin emrys

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tanadrin · 5 months

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But Germany’s performances of repentance have their limits. They do not extend, for example, to the genocide the German colonial army committed in Namibia against Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908, killing tens of thousands. Germany did not officially apologize for those bloody acts until 2021 and has not agreed to pay meaningful reparations to descendants of the victims. If the new German identity relies on isolating the Holocaust as a shameful aberration in national history and nullifying it via solemn remembrance, there is little room for the memory of colonial violence in the nation’s self-mythology. Genocide scholar Dirk Moses named this approach the “German catechism” in a 2021 essay that sparked heated debate. “The catechism implies a redemptive story in which the sacrifice of Jews in the Holocaust by Nazis is the premise for the Federal Republic’s legitimacy,” wrote Moses. “That is why the Holocaust is more than an important historical event. It is a sacred trauma that cannot be contaminated by profane ones—meaning non-Jewish victims and other genocides—that would vitiate its sacrificial function.”

Accordingly, Germany now sees its post-Holocaust mandate as encompassing not a broader commitment against racism and violence but a specific fealty to a certain Jewish political formation: the State of Israel. Germany has relied on its close diplomatic relationship to Israel to emphasize its repudiation of Nazism, but its connection to the Jewish state goes even further. In 2008, then-chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the Israeli Knesset to declare that ensuring Israel’s security was part of Germany’s “Staatsraison,” the state’s very reason for existence. If asked why it is worth preserving a German nationalism that produced Auschwitz, Germany now has a pleasing, historically symmetrical answer—it exists to support the Jewish state.

To that end, in recent years, Germany’s laudable apparatus for public cultural funding has been used as a tool for enacting a 2019 Bundestag resolution declaring that the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel is antisemitic. Although the resolution is technically nonbinding, its passage has led to an unending stream of firings and event cancellations, and to the effective blacklisting of distinguished academics, cultural workers, artists, and journalists for offenses like inviting a renowned scholar of postcolonialism to speak, tweeting criticism of the Bundestag resolution, or having attended a Palestinian solidarity rally in one’s youth. A network of antisemitism commissioners—a system explored in this issue in a feature by Peter Kuras—has been deputized to monitor such offenses. These commissioners are typically white, Christian Germans, who speak in the name of the Jews and often playact Jewishness on a public stage, posing for photo ops in yarmulkes, performing Jewish music, wearing the uniform of the Israeli police, and issuing decrees on who is next in the pillory. When they tangle with left-wing Jews in Germany, canceling their events and attacking them as antisemites in the pages of various newspapers, they suggest what Germany’s antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein has said directly: That the Jews are not being sensitive enough to what antisemitism means to the Germans—that, in fact, these Jews do not understand antisemitism at all. In a perverse twist, the fact that the Germans were the most successful antisemites in history has here become a credential. By becoming the Jews’ consummate protectors, Germans have so thoroughly absorbed the moral lessons bestowed by Jewish martyrdom that they have no more need for the Jew except as symbol; by the logic of this strange supersessionism, Germans have become the new Jews. This is not only a matter of rhetorical authority on Jewish matters but is also often literal, as this self-reflexive philosemitism has led to a wave of German converts to Judaism. According to Tzuberi, “The Jewish revival is desired precisely because it is a German revival.”

If Jews are negated by this formulation, Palestinians are villainized by it. Last year, when the German state banned Nakba Day demonstrations, only days after the murder of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, police justified this suppression by claiming, in a familiar racist trope, that protesters would not have been able to contain their violent rage. Indeed, in Germany Palestinian identity itself has become a marker of antisemitism, scarcely to be spoken aloud—even as the country is home to the largest Palestinian community in Europe, with a population of around 100,000. “Whenever I would mention that I was Palestinian, my teachers were outraged and said that I should refer to [Palestinians] as Jordanian,” one Palestinian German woman speaking of her secondary school education told the reporter Hebh Jamal. Palestinianness as such has thus been stricken from German public life. In The Moral Triangle, a 2020 anthropological study of Palestinian and Israeli communities in Germany by Sa’ed Atshan and Katharina Galor, many Palestinians interviewed said that to speak of pain or trauma they’ve experienced due to Israeli policy is to destroy their own futures in Germany. “The Palestinian collective body is inscribed as ontologically antisemitic until proven otherwise. Palestinians, in this sense, are collateral damage of the intensifying German wish for purification from antisemitism,” wrote Tzuberi.

July 5, 2023

#sorry for the long quote #hard to pick just one or two paragraphs #Germany #politics

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hassibah · 5 months

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"Accordingly, Germany now sees its post-Holocaust mandate as encompassing not a broader commitment against racism and violence but a specific fealty to a certain Jewish political formation: the State of Israel. Germany has relied on its close diplomatic relationship to Israel to emphasize its repudiation of Nazism, but its connection to the Jewish state goes even further. In 2008, then-chancellor Angela Merkel addressed the Israeli Knesset to declare that ensuring Israel’s security was part of Germany’s “Staatsraison,” the state’s very reason for existence. If asked why it is worth preserving a German nationalism that produced Auschwitz, Germany now has a pleasing, historically symmetrical answer—it exists to support the Jewish state.

...

A network of antisemitism commissioners—a system explored in this issue in a feature by Peter Kuras—has been deputized to monitor such offenses. These commissioners are typically white, Christian Germans, who speak in the name of the Jews and often playact Jewishness on a public stage, posing for photo ops in yarmulkes, performing Jewish music, wearing the uniform of the Israeli police, and issuing decrees on who is next in the pillory. When they tangle with left-wing Jews in Germany, canceling their events and attacking them as antisemites in the pages of various newspapers, they suggest what Germany’s antisemitism commissioner Felix Klein has said directly: That the Jews are not being sensitive enough to what antisemitism means to the Germans—that, in fact, these Jews do not understand antisemitism at all. In a perverse twist, the fact that the Germans were the most successful antisemites in history has here become a credential. By becoming the Jews’ consummate protectors, Germans have so thoroughly absorbed the moral lessons bestowed by Jewish martyrdom that they have no more need for the Jew except as symbol; by the logic of this strange supersessionism, Germans have become the new Jews. This is not only a matter of rhetorical authority on Jewish matters but is also often literal, as this self-reflexive philosemitism has led to a wave of German converts to Judaism. According to Tzuberi, “The Jewish revival is desired precisely because it is a German revival.”"

#germany #anti-semitism #israel #long reads #i need to read up more on german foreign policy projects in mena

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gardenschedule · 1 month

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Paul wrangling John

Brian Epstein made the Beatles PR conscious: he would say, ‘Don’t smoke on stage’ and things like that. I was very pleased that they stopped smoking on stage as I didn’t like it myself. He had no difficulty persuading Paul as he knew instinctively how a band should behave on stage, but John was a rebel and George could be difficult.

Bob Wooler, c/o Spencer Leigh, The Best of Fellas: The Story of Bob Wooler. (2002)

JOHN: The truth about the separation was she kicked me out . . . so I (laughter) was adrift at sea . . . and there was nobody to protect me from myself which is fine. I should be able to look after myself but I never had, and there was Epstein or Paul to cover up for me. I’m not putting Paul down and I’m not putting Brian down. They’d done a good job in containing my personality from not causing too much trouble.

Barbara Graustark, “The Real John Lennon.” Newsweek (September 1980)

JOHN (with mock horror): My “lost weekend”? It lasted for eighteen months. I was like an elephant in zoo, aware that it’s trapped but not able to get out. It’s an extension of the craziness that I’d been doing with the Beatles in Hamburg in Liverpool, but it had been covered up by the people surrounding us. So when I freaked out, there would be Paul or Epstein to say “What he really means is he’s just a normal boy from a normal family who likes to shear sheep.” And the machinery around us would take care of the business. By the time we got to America, we were old hands at it. But if you look back at the Beatles’ first national press coverage, it was because I sent a guy to the hospital for calling me a fag, saying I slept with Brian Epstein.

Barbara Graustark, “The Real John Lennon.” Newsweek (September 1980)

“But all the time Paul, and Brian Epstein we’re always trying to kill me from saying anything. But because I was in so much pain, I’d always get drunk or drugged, and I’d always say something that didn’t suit them. And so always, I would leave a piece of shit amongst the Beatles image. But all the time they tried to kill me and kill me and bring me down to be a Beatle, to be a nice boy, be a Beatle. But if you look from the career of the Beatles, the first national news the Beatles ever got in the English newspapers was when I nearly killed somebody at Paul’s party. So all the famous news the Beatles ever got besides being Go–angels, was when I did something terrible through being in so much pain. So they could never keep me down.”

Oct 1971 - John and Yoko interviewed during John’s 31st birthday celebration by reporter Takahiro Imura

"I constantly saw Lennon and McCartney together because Paul came along to see that I wasn't rude to John - who I can't say I got on with. Paul didn't want me to upset John."

Sir Joseph Lockwood - Northern Songs: The True Story of the Beatles Song Publishing Empire, Brian Southall, 2008

Sometimes, though, I certainly thought John was being a complete idiot. Even though I was younger, I would try to explain to him why he was being stupid and why something he’d done was so unlike him. I remember him saying things to me like, ‘You know, Paul, I worry about how people are gonna remember me when I die.’ Thoughts like that shocked me, and I’d reply, ‘Hold on; just hold it right there. People are going to think you were great, and you’ve already done enough work to demonstrate that.’ I often felt like I was his priest and would have to say, ‘My son, you’re great. Just don’t worry about that.’

Paul McCartney, in The Lyrics (2021).

It came as a welcome relief that John and Paul, along with Neil Aspinall, planned a quick trip to New York on May 11, where several press events had been scheduled to announce Apple Records in the States. Friends agreed that getting John away might do him a world of good; being alone, with just Paul to steady him, might have a calming influence. Paul was grappling with his own set of anxieties. “We wanted a grand launch,” Paul said, “but I had a strange feeling and was very nervous.” Drugs, he later admitted, may have been at the root of his problem

Bob Spitz, The Beatles: The Biography, 2005

“The setting is the Blue Angel and Paul McCartney is upstairs talking to some press people, while in the basement is John Lennon shooting his mouth off, well away with the drink or whatever. He said, “Hitler should have finished the job”, meaning that the gas ovens should have been more active than they were. His manager was Jewish and I prevailed upon him to be quiet because the press were upstairs, but he didn’t take any notice of me. I told Paul that John was shooting his mouth off and that the press must not get wind of it. ”

Bob Wooler, c/o Spencer Leigh, Best of the Beatles: The Sacking of Pete Best. (2015)

“The party was at Auntie Gin’s house in Huyton. By now, Paul could afford a marquee in the garden.This is inside the house, where my comedy group, Scaffold, are performing for the guests. John Gorman and Roger McGough are onstage, and I’m photographing reactions to the act. The jokes are going well with Paul, his girlfriend Jane Asher, and an old school chum, Ivan Vaughn, but John Lennon was so pissed he kept shouting, ‘That’s not funny’ (until Paul told him to ‘Shhh!,’ which he did)…” -

Mike McCartney

[After John pours a beer on Chris Montez' head and starts a brawl] Everyone settled down in their seats. Paul McCartney tried to make peace with Chris. Chris said, “Paul sat by me and said, ‘Come on, Chris, let’s be friends….’ “I said, ‘Paul, just get away from me, I don’t want nothing to do with you guys. You know, you pissed me off!” As for Lennon, Chris recalled, “John? I guess he was a wise guy. But I got the sense that, I shouldn’t say this, that he was jealous of who I was or what I did. I don’t know what his problem was, but I didn’t like it too much.”

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE BRAWL BETWEEN JOHN LENNON AND CHRIS MONTEZ IN 1963! EXCLUSIVE!

JOHN: I used to try to get George to rebel with me. I’d say to him, “Look, we don’t need these fuckin’ suits. Let’s chuck them out of the window.” My little rebellion was to have my tie loose with the top button of my shirt undone. Paul’d always come up to me and put it straight.

John

PAUL: There’s a story that I used to straighten John’s tie before we went on stage. That seems to have become a symbol of what my attitude was supposed to have been. I’ve never straightened anyone’s tie in my life, except perhaps affectionately.

The Times Profile of Paul McCartney – 1982

I spoke to Paul about this night many years later, and he confirmed that he and George had been shaken rigid when they found out we were up on the roof. They knew John was having a what you might call a bad trip. John didn’t go back to Weybridge that night; Paul took him home to his place, in nearby Cavendish Road. They were intensely close, remember, and Paul would do almost anything for John. So, once they were safe inside, Paul took a tablet of LSD for the first time, 'So I could get with John’ as he put it- be with him in his misery and fear.

George Martin, With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper

AW: Isn’t he? Well, you know, of all the people, he comes through a lot of stick. Or a lot of people think he comes through a lot of stick in my book. But that’s the way John behaved. He behaved really outrageously. And Paul used to pour the oil on the troubled waters, as it were. But of all the people, only John, out of all the Beatles, have said that my book is the only book that gives a true insight to what it was to be an early Beatle. I admire him for that.

All You Need Is Love – Peter Brown & Steven Gaines

#the beatles #paul mccartney #john lennon #mclennon #you can only assume john loves being taken care of by bossy types #mimi -> brian/paul -> yoko

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secondbeatsongs · 1 year

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feministsforkatemiddleton · 2 months

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ALL THIS. Please email this to Zeynep Tufecki.

For a long time, Middleton was a nearly silent presence. In the years that she dated Prince William, she rarely spoke in public; many people didn’t know what her voice sounded like until the couple gave an engagement interview in 2010. But she had long been photographed by the paparazzi, and their attention moved in stages. As girlfriend to the future king, the tabloids hoped to catch her in a misstep or tacky moment. When she was photographed in 2008 wearing an emerald-green halter top and Day-Glo shorts at a disco-themed party, the U.K. tabloid the Daily Mail wrote, “The less than demure yellow hotpants she was wearing did little to conceal her dignity.”

After she became engaged to Prince William, photos of Middleton wearing bikinis on beach trips still appeared on magazine covers and gossip websites. Commentary circulated on blogs and in glossy magazines about how her physique fit (or didn’t fit) a certain paradigm for the female form; eventually Middleton was photographed sunbathing without a bikini top. But the conversation also shifted, ironically, to whether she was appropriately covered up. Alleged experts would pick apart whether her hemlines were long enough and if “royal etiquette” dictated that she could show her shoulders in a strapless gown. When a stiff wind blew up her skirt, Middleton was scolded by tabloids for not properly fitting her dresses’ hems with weights. In the months preceding her 2011 royal wedding, a tabloid debate raged about whether she was too thin, which the newspapers disguised as faux concern for her health. (It didn’t help that Middleton entered her marriage at around the same time that social media and smartphones spread across the globe, allowing Instagrammers to speculate publicly as much as columnists did.)

#princess catherine #princess of wales #british royal family #team wales #prince william #sexism #brf

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dvrk-moon · 4 months

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SPIDER-FIEND - chapter i

— synopsis: spider-man spilling coffee on you wasn’t on your 2008 bingo card.

— word count: 1.7k

— warnings: cursing, mentions of divorced parents

— featuring: p1h jongseob, kiof haneul

— a/n: i will die on the riki spiderman hill. anyways enjoy this thing while i kms over finishing eat me up 😆😆😆🙏🙏🙏

series masterlist

i. COFFEE, NEWS, AND A SPECIAL GUEST

You were sat at a table with two of your friends, Haneul and Jongseob, in your favorite coffee shop. For it being in New York City, it had a quaint atmosphere, something that not a lot of places here had. You three were exchanging in conversation about school while drinking your drinks.

You and Haneul had just been laughing at some stupid joke she made about one of your teachers at your school: Midtown School of Science and Tech. You hated the fact that of all people, you had to go there. You only had three real friends anyway, Jongseob, Haneul, and your best friend, Riki.

Speaking of Riki, he was supposed to join you all at the coffee shop today, but had just not shown up, no warning. He had a tendency to do that as of late, and it had you losing your mind over what the hell he could be doing that’s so important.

Suddenly, Jongseob pointed his finger at the TV behind both you and Haneul, interrupting your conversation and grabbing your attention. You craned your neck to take a look at what he was pointing out, but your eyes had to take a second to focus. The news was on, but the camera was moving so rapidly that you couldn’t place your finger on what was happening onscreen.

As if it had read your mind, the news now had subtitles accompanying the chaos, some speech about the alleged “Spider-Man” saving some people from a threat. You had seen pictures in the newspaper of the anthropoid-human figure, some videos on a new platform called YouTube, and even caught him in person once, swinging from building to building.

You didn’t really understand all the hype, though. Sure, it was cool that he could save people or whatever, but there had never really been an actual “supervillain” for him to defend the city from, so most of the time you called bullshit on his “powers”.

It was a little cool, though. Just a little.

The TV screen suddenly went black, signifying that something had happened to the camera or news station. You couldn’t tell, you hadn’t been paying that close of attention anyways.

Turning back around, you were met with a gaping Jongseob.

“What is wrong with you?” you teased, pointing out his facial expression. Haneul laughed and mimicked him.

“Stop it,” he commented, fixing his face, “I just think he’s cool, is all.”

“Awww,” Haneul reached across the table and grabbed Jongseob’s cheeks, “our little baby is a fanboy!”

He swatted her hands away before pulling his wrist to check his watch. You took a peak at the wall clock in the shop.

It was 5:17 PM, April 10th, 2008. Stopping by the cafe after school with your friends was always your favorite, but you’d been there for almost two and a half hours now, you should probably leave.

You gave Jongseob and Haneul a pointed look, and you could tell that you were all thinking the same thing. It would be best to go.

You stood up, grabbing your mug and bringing it to the counter, asking the worker for a to-go cup so you could leave. You returned to the table and grabbed your bag and your iPod from off the table, which Haneul had been using for the time being.

Walking back to the counter, the barista called out your name and handed you the coffee in the to-go cup.

Jongseob and Haneul met you near the counter, you three now taking your leave from the coffee shop. Jongseob opened and held the door for you two.

The streets of the city were as busy as ever, people, traffic, flashing lights, you were used to it all. Even in a neighborhood less close to the heart of the city, it was crazily busy. You watched from across the street as a man was casually walking backwards, another man was breakdancing for money, and a woman was scantily clad calling out at random strangers from her window. Some classy city you lived in.

You shook your head as you exited the building, taking a right to head towards the subway station, which was about three blocks away from the cafe. Haneul and Jongseob quickly caught up with you, following your lead.

“I don’t know,” Jongseob started, “I think it’s just be cool to see Spider-Man in person.”

You groaned and looked over your shoulder at him, “So we’re back on this now?”

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just saying,” Jongseob defended himself, shrugging at you.

“I just don’t really think I get the hype,” you admitted, picking up your pace as you reached a crosswalk.

“What’s there to not get?!” Haneul cocked her head at you, furrowing her eyebrows but still smiling.

“I dunno,” you said, reaching the other side of the crosswalk, “I just don’t think he’s all that.”

“Sounds to me like you’re just being a hater for no reason,” Haneul commented.

“Maybe I am,” you replied, “so what? It’s not like he’s ever gonna know.”

The steps down to the subway station quickly came into view, so all three of you picked up the pace. Ever since you left the cafe and got closer to the heart of the city, the human traffic only picked up. You had to almost shove your way through to get to where you needed to go.

You grabbed your Metro Card out of your bag, ready to swipe your card as you neared the entrance.

Once through, you three stepped up to the platform, waiting for the subway. Moments later, Jongseob’s phone started blasting his ringtone — “Low” by Flo Rida — and begging to be answered. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, he had a much newer phone than yours. He was lucky enough to get an Ericsson P1i, one you’d been wishing for, hoping to have for a little less than a year now.

You were stuck with a dingy Nokia N70, a hand-me-down from your older brother, which was now an almost three year old phone. You couldn’t always complain though, some of your classmates weren’t allowed to have individual smart phones. It was hard for you to believe; it’s 2008 now, not the 1800s!

Jongseob quickly answered the phone to who you assumed was his mother because his demeanor completely changed. Seconds after he answered, the subway pulled up, and you three filed yourselves in.

At the other end of the car you’d just entered, there was someone performing music with a guitar and a hat on the floor for money. You really didn’t want to listen to whatever was going on, so you fished your iPod and Apple earphones from out of your bag and drowned out reality. The music wasn’t bad, per se, in fact it was better than a crack addict being in the car, but you just weren’t in the mood today.

Your green iPod started playing “Thnks fr th Mmrs” by a band called Fall Out Boy, a song you had recently purchased on iTunes.

You let your mind drift to Riki. It’d been like that all too often lately. He wouldn’t even do anything and you’d be thinking of him. You knew you liked him more than a friend, you had now for a while. You weren’t stupid. But with all the flakiness he had been pulling lately, you began to get annoyed with him.

A few songs later and you were at your stop. Haneul and Jongseob still had a stop to go, so even when they offered to walk you home, you politely declined. You knew the way home well, and it wasn’t even dark yet. Plus, you had a taser in your bag.

You straightened your white blouse and plaid skirt before bidding your goodbyes to your friends, stepping out of the car and making your way back up the stairs up to the ground level.

You didn’t live extremely close to the inner city, you were about 15 minutes away by subway. It was far enough to not go crazy by the amount of light that Times Square had always elicited at night, but close enough to where you didn’t feel isolated from the inner city life.

The next song on your playlist was “How to Save a Life” by The Fray, a new favorite of yours. It had come out last year but you weren’t sure how you’d missed out on it for so long. As soon as you got the iPod for Christmas with an iTunes card, you bought that song. 2007 really did have the best hits.

As you slipped through alleyways to get to your street, you made sure not to spill any of your coffee. You hadn’t been drinking it so the cup was mostly filled, but you were waiting until you got home. You’d probably post about it on MySpace.

You got through a few more alleyways and back to a more crowded street that led to your mom’s apartment, easing your nerves as you approached your safe space.

Maybe it was because you had your earphones in, maybe it was because you’d been looking down at your iPod for a second too long so you could turn up your music, or maybe you were too distracted, your mind still on Riki.

No matter what it was, you definitely weren’t expecting to see Spider-Man swinging around your neighborhood. He had a bit of swagger about him naturally.

You wondered who hid under that mask.

Once your eyes left his figure, you once again drew your attention towards your iPod, turning it up once more. You believed it would be optimal for you to go deaf.

Within an instant, your once white blouse had hot coffee spilled all over it. Your mouth flew open, turning around to face the culprit that had bumped into you, roughly, causing you to spill your drink. You weren’t even sure how the drink had spilled as much as it did, you had a safety lid on it.

When you whipped your head around, you did not expect to be met face-to-face with none other than your personal hero, Spider-Man. You couldn’t believe what happened, immediately starting to curse out the man under the suit.

“Yo, can you watch where the fuck you’re going, man? You ruined my shirt, thanks.”

Instead of offering an apology, Spider-Man stood there for a few seconds before simply webbing away.

Some fucking hero he was.

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monstrous-lighthouse · 1 year

Photo

does uhhhh anyone want to see the photos of hugh and rsl from the 2008 tv guide interview? because I feel like i’ve only ever seen the newspaper cutout one here. sorry it doesn’t include the actual interview, whoever clipped (or cropped, lol) the image in 2008 apparently was more concerned with the images.

(much was made of the implications of the “bang” when this came out)

#doing my part to contribute to the house md renaissance #house md #hate crimes md #hilson

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entheognosis · 11 months

Quote

For 13 thousand dollars, Englishman Brendon Grimshaw bought a tiny uninhabited island in the Seychelles and moved there forever. When Grimshaw was under forty, he quit his job as a newspaper editor and started a new life. By this time, no human had set foot on the island for 50 years. As befits a real Robinson, Brendon found himself a companion from among the natives. His name was René Lafortin. Together with Rene, Brendon began to equip his new home. While René came to the island only occasionally, Brendon lived on it for decades by himself, never leaving. For 39 years, Grimshaw and Lafortin planted 16 thousand trees with their own hands and built almost 5 kilometers of paths. In 2007, Rene Lafortin died, and Brendon was left all alone on the island. He was 81 years old. He attracted 2,000 new bird species to the island and introduced more than a hundred giant tortoises, which in the rest of the world (including the Seychelles) were already on the verge of extinction. Thanks to Grimshaw's efforts, the once deserted island now hosts two-thirds of the Seychelles' fauna. An abandoned piece of land has turned into a real paradise. A few years ago, the prince of Saudi Arabia offered Brendon Grimshaw $50 million for the island, but he refused. “I don’t want the island to become a favorite vacation spot for the rich. Better let it be a national park that everyone can enjoy.” And he achieved just that. In 2008 the island was indeed declared a national park.

#ecology

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blerb-f1 · 9 months

Text

"Let them talk" - 2008!Sebastian Vettel x Engineer!Reader (platonic???)

This one is again based on another Song called "Lasse Reden" (Let them Talk) by Die Ärzte. I really like it so give it a listen if you want to.

Let em run their mouths

Did you do something that normally no one does?

Are you wearing high heels or even a hat?

Or did you wear too skimpy of a dress,

Without asking your neighbors for permission first?

Sebastian flipped the newspaper open, staring disgruntled at the articles badmouthing him. For some reason, German Media weren't a Fan of him. A young, overly confident upstart they could step on easily is what he was to them.

Of course, now you'll be treated with contempt

You're a disgrace to the whole neighborhood

You don't even know their names

And they're already running their mouths about you.

You just stared at the awful stuff they said about him. Just where exactly did they get that stuff from? What made them get those ideas? Were they so miserable in their own boring little lifes?

You leaned forward, comfortingly holding Sebastian's right hand.

"They don't know you Seb, that's why they're able to pull shit like this"

Sebastian looked at another article, eyes scanning the rude words laid in front of him.

"I know that THEY don't know me. That's why they are so rude. I mean, I've just joined Red Bull properly. Taking over after David Coulthard won't be easy but what do they expect? If Horner wants me to be Driver 1, I have to become Driver 1. That's how the Business works. Bashing Me because they wanted Mark to get the spot is idiotic. It's not like we two have that many choices to make in that regard"

You eyed a smaller article, reading the insults that were hurled at you. Being Sebs' equally young and inexperienced Engineer at Toro Rosso was already pretty special but Christian Horner invited you to follow him to the Main Team. Like a Buy one get one free deal. Pretty nice money and friendship wise but pretty bad gossip wise.

Let them talk, and don't listen to them

Most people just don't have anything better to do

Let them talk, day and night

Let them talk - they always have, anyway

Apparently, something you didn't know about yourself,was that you were the lover of Helmut Marko and got Sebastian into this position by fucking said old fart on top of the RB03. Interesting. Another, even meaner comment, had implied that somehow Sebastian was a paid driver that got in thanks to Flavio Briatore and you had planned Crashgate. Considering that you were just a little engineer at Toro Rosso, that seemed very outlandish. Furthermore, something about Briatore always irked you the wrong way so there was no way in Hell you'd be caught dead around him. Being the same age as Sebastian, you didn't think that people were taking you as capable of stuff like that. A 21y.o. planning something like Crashgate? And even if you somehow were that big brained, in what manner would Fernando Alonso winning the Race benefit Sebastian? You just shook your head at the brainfarts that managed to get printed.

You've certainly robbed a bank

How else could you afford your rent?

And you've been banned from the United States

Because you're Osama bin Laden's lover

Seb sighed as he read another news out loud: "Michael Schumacher reveals: Vettel too cocky for his own good. The 7x champion despises being around the moronic Rookie". As he finished reading and slouched back into his seat, you just stared in shock. Michael liked Sebastian. He appreciated him as a driver, a young fresh talent and as a fellow German. He treated him more like a son than anything. He was a better not dad than most of those so-called journalists must have had growing up. You stood up from your own booth seat, sliding over to Sebs Side, bumping into his side while sending him a Comforting Smile. You both sipped the bad Coffee they served in Hospitality, trying to form fictional race tracks out the stains the mugs left on the table.

Do you shave your women's-beard daily

Or do you have a few corpses buried in your garden?

The neighbors surmised as much

So don't be surprised when the detectives drop by

You pointed at another article. "See this one?". The young man moved his eyes to the next page, gazing upon the article squished between ads for most likely racist books and lawnmowers. "Fernando Alonso actually deceased, replaced by a driver that got plastic surgery."

He chucked at the thought of someone learning to be like Fernando Alonso. Some poor bloke forced to do that bunny dance on top of an F1 Car. How even would one imitate a Driver? "Imagine getting someone to look like Coulthard? Would they put new bones into that chin?" you joked while pointing at your chin. You then hollowed out your cheeks, stretching your face. "Or imagine someone looking like Mark. Like, how do you initiate that?”

Seb started laughing along with you while pretending to give himself a longer chin:"Sebastian Vettel imitates Michael Schumacher. Has this rookie gone too far?"

The laughter coming from deep down your stomach was so loud that some of the other people in hospitality turned around, staring at you two. Normally you’d hide away in some empty office, eating your cold food there while racing against Sebastian on your two PSP’s that he won in a raffle.

Let them talk and just don't listen

Most people don't mean anything by it

It's their monotonous life that bothers them

And the day becomes much more interesting when you tell stories

Mark, who'd heard your imitations, while walking in, came over and scooted into the booth you sat in earlier while giving you two a comforting smile. "That's the correct way to deal with those stupid fake news" he stated, while stretching his legs under the table. "They'll always think of something stupid to talk about. What are they supposed to report, if not stupid shit like that? You think normal people buy the headline 'Red Bull Racing' s new Talent Sebastian Vettel is a kind bloke'?"

Seb seemed to tense next to you for a second before relaxing again." You mean, this will go on forever? "

" Yes", Mark answered bluntly. "That's how it's always been and always will be."

And they probably don't feel ashamed

They lack discretion

And repeatedly prove: [that] they are petty,

inescapable, xenophobic

"Look at the stuff they write about Lewis Hamilton, for example" he said while smiling sadly. "Your slander is just normal slander, he's getting hate simply because his skin colour isn't on their approval page. Formula 1 features people from all over the world, so they pick the easiest target who could be someone who's from a minority group like Lewis or a young fool like you. Those people can span from idiots to hyenas. You gotta learn how to ignore them and especially, not feed them. Fake articles can be fun for a hot minute but blow up and grow into some massive thing "

Did you hear, and say, did you already know?

That is to say, you earn your money through prostitution

You work the corner by the bus station

The colleague of a brother-in-law saw you the other day

"So my Advice for you two: Don't run with what they say about you in public. Be so kind that it hurts. Y/N, don't mention that Crashgate stuff anywhere. The Brazilians won't be happy with your jokes and the media will spin it like you're actually involved and somehow hate everyone from there. Seb, don't treat Me different just because People hate Christian Horner putting you in this position. That's on them, not you. Just be polite and let your racing do the talking. "

His statements were the whole damn truth, leaving you and Seb too stunned to speak. Mark took this chance to take the newspaper away from you, just to chuck them into the trash bin." Let me resolve those issues for you. Drivers need to look out for one another, don't they? Someone gave me the same advice back then so i’m giving it to you now," Seb nodded in agreement, watching the tall man leave catering while the newspaper quickly got covered by leftover Spaghetti.

Let them talk, just laugh it off

Most people get their information from Bild*

Which consists of, who knew,

Fear, hate, tits, and the weather report

Let them talk, because this is how it is:

As long as they talk, that's the worst they do

And you can afford a little hypocrisy

Stay polite and say nothing - that annoys them the most.

Seb stared at you for a short second before getting up and holding out his hand towards you like a knight to his princess.

" Y/N, may I invite my strategic Genius to play an evil round of Gran Turismo 4?"

You grabbed his hand, pretending to flip your skirt.

"Of course, Mr. Evil. But you take the Mad-Catz Controller"

Seb stared at you with fake shock. The audacity. The Mad-Catz Controller was reserved for poor younger brothers around the world normally. You lost your other proper one during the move to Red Bull though and this one was the one Horner had gotten you after asking you for a new one.

"How dare you make Christian Horner's secret Love Child take the shitty Controller?"

You stuck out your tongue towards him. "I'm sorry Sebastian Horner, I think having Helmut Marko, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone on speed dial makes me the instant winner of the original Controller."

While Mark had told you to not make fun of that stuff, doing it once or twice won't be too bad, will it?

*Bild is like a shitty german newspaper with clickbaity titles known to stir hatred, show lots of nudity and general stupidity. Also yes, i'm having Seb Brainrot rn.

#Sebastian Vettel x reader #Sebastian Vettel x you #F1 x reader #blerb writes

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